Casing tongs



Spt. 22, 1925.

R. L. JOHNSON ET AL CASING TONGS Filed June IN VEN TOR RLJWM FRLrOM WITNESS A TTORNE YS Patented Siept. 2'2, 192'.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD L. JOHNSON AND FORREST R. JONES OF MONTv BELVIEU, TEXAS.

CASING TONGS.

Appfication filed June 18,

To all ar 20m it may concern:

Be itknown that we, RICHARD L. JOHN- SON and FORREST R. Jones, citizens of the United States, and residents of Mont Belvieu, in the county of Chambers and t'itat-e of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Casing Tongs, of which the following is a specification.

Our present invention relates generally to casing tongs and more particularly to what are commonly known as brake-out tongs, our object being the provision of a device of this nature providing for a tight uniform engagement with a section of casing to be removed as well as an engagement subject to ready as well as fine adjustments and a tong as a whole which may be readily and easily applied in and removed from effective position.

Our invention presents a brake-out or casing tong whose effectiveness and efficiency is the result of a double knuckle arrangement wherein the pipe gripping jaws are within, and partly controlled by, a pivotal jaw holder to which one of the jaws is pivotally connected and this arrangement not only increases the effectiveness and efficiency of the device as a whole in use but also adds greatly to its strength and durability.

in the accompanying drawing which ill strates our present invention and forms a. part of this specification,

Figure 1 is a plan view of a casing tong embodying our invention,

Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof, and

Fig. 8 is a detail perspective View of the jaw latch.

Referring now to these figures our invention proposes a tong including a shank or handle 10 having a laterally enlarged head 11 at one end and which may be provided adjacent to said head with the usual link or traveler 12 and at its free end with an eye 18. At one side of its laterally enlarged head 11 there is pivoted at 1 1 one end of a curved approximately semicircular jaw supporting extension having intermediate its ends an externally projecting slotted hand hold 16 which greatly. facilitates the opening of the jaws mounted as hereinafter described.

The two approximately semicircular jaws 17 and 18 may each be provided with an internal toothed grip or liner 19, and are each provided with an externally projecting lug 1924. Serial N0. 720,789.

20 located at an approximately central point between the ends thereof, the lug 20 of the outer jaw 17 being pivotally connected at 21 to the free end of the curved jaw support and the lug of the inner jaw 18 being pivotally connected at 22 to the laterally eniarged head 11 of the handle 10 at a point spaced from the pivot 1a of the inner end of the jaw support so that the two jaws 17 and 18 are thus seated with their inner portions extended within the laterally opening jaw support 15. The inner ends of the jaws 17 and 18 are moreover ivotally connected to one another at 23 ant it is thus obvious that swinging movement of the jaw support 15 upon its inner pivot 14: serves to control opening and closing movements of the jaws l7 and 18 and that for the purpose of opening the jaws it is simply necessary to grasp the hand. hold 16 of the jaw support 15 and pull thelatter in a direction away from the open side of the jaws whereby the pivots 21 and 22 respectively between jaw 17 and the jaw support 15 and between aw 18 and the head 11 of handle 10 will be spread apart.

This construction in turn lends itself to control by means of a coil spring 24: one end of which is connected to the handle 10 intermediate the ends of the latter and the other of which is connected to the inner jaw 18 at a point adjacent the free end of the latter, so that the spring serves to pull the jaws toward closed position with the parts as shown in Fig. 1 and to hold the jaws in open position when the jaw support 15 is grasped and swung open to a point beyond the longitudinal line of its inner pivot 1%. The connection between the coil spring 21 and the handle 10 may be in the form of an adjustable turnbuckle 25 so that the tension of the spring may be readily controlled and adjusted. The free end of the jaw 17 carries a swinging latch piece 26 shown in detail in Fig. 8, whose laterally enlarged or headed free end 2? may be swung over and across the space between the free ends othe jaws and into engagen'ient with a latch receiving shoulder 28 formed upon the eX- ternal surface of the free end of the jaw 18 so that the jaws may be thus secured in the closed position.

Moreover the inner jaw 18 is provided at one side of its handle pivot 22 with an adjustable set screw 29 adjacent to a rigid outstanding lug 80 at one side of the handle head 11, by which the extent of opening movement of the jaws may be controlled, the jaws being thus in this way permitted to open only to that extent necessary for the spring 2% to properly function in holding the jaws in the open position.

Through the construction thus described we are enabled to provide a casing tong capable of ready manipulation for insertion around and removal from a casing to be gripped or in other words one in connection with which the jaws may be easily and quickly opened and closedto the fullest extent necessary in these operations. Gui invention also enables us to provide a casing tong capable of uniformly and effectively,

gripping a casing with a jaw tensioned just sufiicient for that purpose and our lnvention still further enables us to provide a casing Long which will not only be strong andef fective and capable of ready manipulation and ad ustment, but one which with but ordinary care, will be lasting and durable in use.

lVe claim:

A casing tong including a handle having a head at one end, an approximately semicircularly curved jaw support whose inner end is pivotally connected to one side of the said head, forming a laterally opening jawreceiving cavity, and a pair of curved jaws disposed and pivotally connected to one another at one end within said cavity, the outer jaw being pivotally connected approximately centrally between its ends to the outer end oi the jaw support, and the inner jaw being pivotally connected approximately centrally between its ends to the head of the handle at the opposite side of the latter with respect to the inner pivot of the jaw support, and spring means extending between the inner jaw and the handle, the pivotal connections between the handle and the jaw support and the inner ja'w being laterally spaced upon opposite sides of the longitudinal axis of the handle.

RICHARD L. JOHNSON. FORREST R JONES. 

